Gophers football: Minnesota gets a signature win to grow on

To see how far Gophers football has come, look at the past two times fans had stormed the field before Saturday:

In 2010, Minnesota defeated 24th-ranked Iowa -- but that win was to finish the season 3-9.

In 2011, Gophers faithful danced with the Floyd of Rosedale pig trophy for the second consecutive year. But that was the second win in another 3-9 season -- the first year under coach Jerry Kill.

Gophers fans didn't have much else to feel good about back then, but things are different this year. Minnesota is 6-2 after Saturday's 34-23 victory over Nebraska in front of 49,995 at TCF Bank Stadium, ending a 16-game drought in the series that spanned 53 years.

The Gophers are playing for a lot more this year.

"We're starting to believe," sophomore quarterback Philip Nelson said. "That's really all that needs to be said right now. We have the confidence rolling from week to week. We're finally starting to realize how good we can be."

Still, the Gophers have their sights set higher than one signature win and bowl eligibility. Seven wins would eclipse last year's total. Eight wins could position Minnesota for its first higher-level bowl game since the 1961 Gophers reached the Rose Bowl.

After fans stormed the field and the players bounced around following Kill's postgame locker-room speech, Nelson said he realized that what they accomplished Saturday should be "an expectation."

Defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys, the team's acting head coach while Kill is dealing with epilepsy, also made it clear that becoming bowl eligible -- not just beating Nebraska -- sets this season apart from last year.

The biggest win under Kill had been victory No. 6 last season at Illinois on Nov. 10.

"Now we have our sixth win in October and we can reset our goals," Claeys said. "We're going to work hard and set out to do something better than what we have done in the past.

The Gophers have looked like a different team in the past two games -- big wins over Legends Division foes Northwestern and Nebraska. They've played two quarterbacks (Mitch Leidner started Saturday, but Nelson led a comeback from a 10-0 deficit). They've stifled teams on defense, especially on third down (their past two opponents are 10 for 28). They're running the ball as well as they did early in the season against weaker nonconference opponents (271 yards on the ground Saturday).

Minnesota took advantage of a poor Nebraska run defense that ranked 10th in the Big Ten. Defensively, the Gophers were aggressive with their pass rush, springing blitzes from the ends and the secondary.

The result was four sacks against an offensive line that had given up only three all season.

The Cornhuskers were playing without All-America guard Spencer Long, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last week.

"I don't want to take anything away from them," Gophers senior defensive tackle Ra'Shede Hageman said of the Huskers' offensive line. "But they were quiet."

Offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover pulled out his bag of tricks for the first time all year with some surprising play calls, which included lining left tackle Ben Lauer at wide receiver and having Nelson run the ball for a 1-yard touchdown after going in motion.

The Nelson run gave Minnesota a 24-13 lead in the third quarter. It was a turning point in the game.

"One of the big things was, we're trying to make it fun for the kids," Limegrover said.

Minnesota running back David Cobb ran for 144 yards on 31 carries, including this first quarter play. Defending for Nebraska are linebacker Jared Afalava, left, and safety Corey Cooper. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)

"During the week of practice, we said we're going to do some things a little bit differently; we're going to shake it up a little bit."

In Minnesota's 20-17 upset at Northwestern last week, the Gophers were conservative on offense -- and did just enough to win.

But there were signs of more explosiveness across the board Saturday because more players were involved. Seven players carried the ball, including Cobb, who had a career-best 138 rushing yards, and Nelson, who rushed for 55.

Freshman Donovahn Jones, who had just 12 yards as a receiver all year, added four carries for 42 yards.

Tight end Drew Goodger, who entered with three catches for 33 yards, had three receptions for a team-best 68.

"Our coaches really did a good job of scheming them up," Goodger said. "They made really good play calls at the right time."

When it came time for players to gush about how great it was to celebrate with their fans on the field, it wasn't just about that scene anymore.

It was about what comes next.

"This is just the win we needed as a program," senior cornerback Brock Vereen said. "We've been in situations like this, but finally we put all the pieces in that right place."